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beacons

2017 has been a tough year for offline retail, but even as a growing number of retailers shutter stores and rethink their strategies, they’re continuing to work to improve offline customer experience, including through the use of their digital assets.

Here are five ways retailers have improved the in-store shopping experience through digital channels.

In an age of persistent connectivity, no modern event would be complete without its own mobile app.

During the recent Glastonbury Festival weekend, the official event app was launched more than 3m times by users checking festival news and set times, connecting with fellow festival goers, and streaming live coverage.

Are there any numbers out there to justify the hype? Let’s go on a little investigation.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or in fact any publisher dealing in digital or marketing, you’ll likely be well versed in the world of beacons, iBeacons and other near-field communications (NFC).

If not, head on over to this handy beginner’s guide which should bring you up to speed.

Examples of beacons being used in everything from retail to one-off music or sporting events are becoming more frequent as the months roll on. It’s an exciting time, and there’s a genuine belief that this technology really will build the bridge between offline and online marketing.

Depending on your upbringing, ‘fencing’ may mean something very different to you than other people.

If you’re very posh it’s the practice of non-lethally poking masked opponents with pointy sticks. If you’re slightly less posh, but still had a garden to run around in as a child, then it’s the practice of putting up a wooden division so that neighbours can’t just wander onto your property unsolicited.

And if you’re even less posh… it’s the practice of knowingly buying stolen property for the purpose of selling on at a later date.

I probably fall somewhere between the latter two.

However, perhaps you come from a long line of digital innovators and early adopters (your granddad developed the first beeper for instance) and the term fencing means more about GPS to you then anything else. If that’s the case then you probably needn’t read any further.

How much traffic does your website get? On the surface, it seems like it should be an easy question to answer. But unfortunately, it isn’t so cut-and-dry. Companies like comScore are in the business of helping publishers and advertisers find the answer, but according to Jason Calacanis, comScore is running an “extortion ring“.

In a fiery post this weekend, he rails against comScore, calling it the “technology industry’s biggest bully” and even suggesting that traders short the company’s stock.